In 1658, fifteen Jewish families emigrated from South America to (what was to become) the United States. These families were of Sephardic lineage and settled together in Newport, Rhode Island, where they established a Jewish congregation. For many years they held weekly prayer services in private homes.

When the need arose for a Jewish cemetery, the community purchased a piece of land on Wednesday, February 28, 1677.

This was the very first piece of land in the colonies which was owned by a Jewish congregation. In this cemetery are buried many of the early members of this congregation, and it is still maintained by the Jewish community.

For more about the Newport Jewish community, see entry for the 8th of Elul.

Viewing the dire lack of formal Jewish education provided to
Jewish girls in her native Poland, Sarah Schenirer founded the first Bais
Yaakov girls’ school in Krakow in 1917. Despite some initial opposition, the
Bais Yaakov school network quickly expanded throughout Poland and beyond.
Today, there are hundreds of Bais Yaakov schools worldwide, attended by tens of
thousands of students.